Apparatus for striping wire



1952 J. L. ENTWI ST LE ETAL 2,581,180

APPARATUS FOR STRIPING WIRE iled Feb. 9, 1949- 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORJAMES L. E/VTW/S TLE ALDEN m NELSON BY I TORNEY J. 1.. ENTWISTLE ET AL2,581,180

Jan. 1, 1952 APPARATUS FOR STRIPING WIRE" 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 91949 INVENTOR JAMES L. [/VTFV/STLE ALDEN 14/. NELSON BY W M ATTORNEYJan. 1, 1952 APPARATUS FOR STRIPING WIRE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 9,1949 FIG. 3.-

FIG. '4.

E, m R 0 Y F 1L.W A a 4 QM n u MD/ F mm a m IIIIIIIIII Patented Jan. 1,1952 APPARATUS FOR S'TRIPING WIRE.

James L. Entwistle, Cranston, and Alden W. Nelson, Pawtucket, R. I.,assignors to The James L. Entwist1e0o., Pawtucket, R. 1., acopartnership composed of James L. Entwistle and Margherita C. EntwistleApplication February 9, 1949, .Serial No. 75,422

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for marking a cylindricalbody and more particularly to an apparatus for applying stripes to theinsulation surrounding wires for conducting electricity.

In many cases, e. g. communication equipment. it is desirable to be ableto distinguish diflferent wires from one another. Commonly in suchequipment when the wire insulation is of plastic or rubber, eachdistinctive wiremust be extruded a different solidcolor. If theinsulation is of fabric, distinctively colored strands must be embodiedas part of the covering. It is therefore necessary for a user to keep instock large quantities of distinctively colored. wire. This is bothinconvenient and expensive.

According to our invention it is possible for the wire user to keep wirein stock, all of whose insulation may be the same color, and as needed,by means of a novel marking head, apply distinguishing marks such asdifferent colored spiral stripes to the insulation. It will beappreciated that according to this method of marking wire it will bepossible distinctivelytomark an almost infinite number of wires. basiccolorsmay be used in all sorts of combinations either as marking stripesor as different base colors of the insulation itself.

The object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide anapparatus. which applies spiral stripes to wire insulation.

A feature of the present invention is that spiral stripes of differentcolors may be applied to insulated wires.

Another feature of the present invention is an apparatus in which aninsulated wire is pulled in onedirection and controls the rotation of amarking head around the wire.

Still another feature of the present invention is a marking headcomprising one or several in dividual marking units, each unit beingpartlyfilled with a suitably colored ink which is applied to the wire bya rotatable wheel.

These and other features of the present invention will becomeapparentfrom theiollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic side elevation of the apparatus;

For instance the eight Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in section-ofthe capstan drive of the marking head;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation partly in section of a marking unit;

7 Fig. 4 is a top plan view of Fig. 3 on lines 4-4; Fig. 5 is asectionon the lines 55 of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 shows a piece of the wire-withspiral marking stripes; and

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the marking head with three marking units.

In the embodiment of Fig. 1, wire I is pulled by a conventional capstandrive generally indicated at 2 from a pay-off drum 3 over pulleys 5, 6,I of a capstan drive generally indicated at 4. Wire I is then pulledover pulleys 8 and 9 by capstan wheels I0 and II and traversed ontotakeup drum I3 by guide wheel I2. On its way from pulley 6 to pulley 8the wire moves along the vertical center line of a marking headgenerally indicated at IB and through a drying device I4. When pulleys 6and 1 are rotated by wire I, marking head I 6, which is connected bysuitable gears to these pulleys, is rotated around the wire.

Marking head I6 comprises one or more'marking units I5 each of whichcomprises a lower portion I! (Fig. 3) for adjustably mounting the uniton head I6, and an upper portion or reservoir I8, which is partly filledwith a colored liquid, such as ink, and houses a rotatable marking wheel"I 9. Wheel I9 contacts wire I at an acute angle and as it is rotated bythe moving wire transports the liquid from the reservoir to the wire andapplies a spiral stripe to the latter.

Capstan drive 4 for rotating marking head I6 is schematically shown inFig. 2. Wire I is pulled over pulleys 5, 6 and I by capstan drive 2(Fig. 1) in the direction indicated by the arrows and then moves througha hollow shaft 29. As pulleys 6 and I are driven 'by the wire, a bevelgear 2| driven by a meshing bevel gear on the shaft of pulley 6 (notshown) rotates with a gear 22 which meshes with a gear 23 on shaft 20.Thus the rotation of hollow shaft 20 around wire I is controlled by thewire.

The upper portion of hollow shaft 20 (Fig. 2) is telescoped by anotherhollow shaft 21 which keeps wire I in the center of hollow shaftZII.Both these hollow shafts are rigidly held together by a screw 28.Fulcrum hub 29 is press fitted around hollow shafts 20 and 21 and twolock-nuts 30 and 3! are screwed on a threaded portion of fulcrum hub 29.Lock nut 30 is tapered.

A unit I is adjustably mounted on fulcrum hub 29 in the followingmanner: A pivot 32 fastens the bottom of reservoir l8 to fulcrum hub 29.A threaded lug 33 passes through a hole in the bottom of lower portionl1 and contacts tapered lock nut 30. Unit I5 is moved closer to wire Iby tightening screw 33 and moved away by loosening the screw. In thismanner the distance between wheel l9 and wire i may be varied. Thisdistance may also be varied by screwing lock nuts and 3| up or down onfulcrum hub 29. Accordingly, if it is necessary to adjust the distancebetween the units and wire I, because wire of different diameter fromthat previously used, is employed, the adjustment on all the units maybe simultaneously performed by operating lock nuts 30, 3|.

Wheel l9 contacts wire I (Fig. 5) at an acute angle so that'a truerolling action along the spiral angle of the stripe is obtained. Thewheel is rotatably mounted (Figs. 3,4, 5) in reservoir I8 by means ofbearings 34, on either side of the reservoir. An opening is provided inthe front of the reservoir through which wheel 19 protrudes. A scrapingdevice 31, conveniently made of chemically resistant synthetic rubber,is held on the front of reservoir l8 by a headed stud 38, and contactwith hub of marking wheel 19. The lower half of wheel 19 passes througha slit 39 in the scraper. The sides of the slit scrape against the wheelto wipe off any liquid adhering thereto. It is desirable that the liquidbe only on the rim of the wheel which contacts the wire in an acuteangle substantially as shown in Fig. 5. The unit forms this angle withthe wire because lower portion I! is in a different plane from upperportion l8 when the unit is mounted on fulcrum hub 29.

Reservoir I8 is partly filled with a colored liquid 40, e. g. ink. Aslong as unit I5 is not rotating the level of the liquid is below wheell9. When the unit rotates the liquid will be forced outward and bank upvertically on the closed side of reservoir l8 by centrifugal force sothat wheel I 9 dips in the ink, as shown by dotted lines (Fig. 3). Wehave found that when the head rotates at an optimum speed of 1200 R. P.M. it is well above the necessary speed to centrifuge the ink to avertical position in the reservoirs. Since the wheel is free to rotateand contacts wire I it transports the ink to the wire and marks a spiralstripe on the latter. If the head rotates too fast the type of markingink commonly used will separate and be unusable. Since the back and topof reservoir I B are closed, a high piling up of liquid 49 is possible.It is advisable to fill reservoir l8 as high as possible, e. g. untiljust below the opening in its front.

The rim of wheel 19 is preferably knurled as at 4| (Fig. 7) so thatliquid will better adhere to the wheel. The sides of wheel 19 arepreferably smooth and are-kept clean by the operation of scraper 31 asabove described.

The Width of a spiral stripe depends upon the width of the contactingsurface of wheel l9 and may be varied by varying the width or the shapeof the rim of wheel IS.

The pitch of the spiral marked on the wire depends on the speed ofrotation of the marking head which will depend on the rate at which thewire is pulled through the head. When the head rotates at 1200 R. P.lvi. and the wire is travelling at about 165 feet per minute, a pitch of1.69 inches will be obtained on wires between and inches in diameter.However, the apparatus is not limited to such diameters or pitches andwires of difierent diameters may be used in combination with any desiredvalue for the pitch which may be obtained by varying the velocity ofwire 3 and/or head l6.

Head l6 preferably comprises three individual marking units IS. Theunits are similarly mounted on the head at equal distances from oneanother. Fig. '7 shows a top view of head l6 with three units I5 mountedon it.

Each reservoir 58 may be filled with a different colored ink. Thus,there will be marked on the wire three equally spaced colored spiralstripes. If desired the stripes may all be of the same color or only oneor two stripes may be marked on the wire by leaving one or tworeservoirs dry.

Fig. 6 shows a length of spirally marked wire such as would be obtainedif head It comprising three equally spaced units l5 were rotated at 1200R. P. M. with wire I travelling at about feet per minute. A distance ofapproximately .56 inch between the stripes would be obtained.

After being marked wire I is pulled through a drier 14 (see Fig. l) anda blower I4 blows a stream of air into drier l4 where it is heated anddries the markings on the wire.

While we have described a preferred embodiment of the invention, othermodifications and embodiments will be suggested to those skilled in theart and it is intended to limit the invention only by the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. A marking head for a wire striping machine comprising a singleenclosed, smooth walled oblong structure for striping fluid, and havingan opening in the upper half of the front wall at the juncture with thetop, and a wheel rotatably mounted in the reservoir with its rimprotruding through said opening and closely adjacent the inner backsurface of the reservoirs wall, a plurality of said reservoirs mountedaround the wire with which the wheels are in cooperative relation, amounting bracket pivotally connected at one end to the bottom of eachreservoir, an externally threaded hub surrounding the wire, aninternally threaded nut having a tapered shoulder and movable on saidhub, and a lug extending from the other end of each of said mountingbrackets to engage said tapered shoulder whereby when said internallythreaded nut is moved the position of said reservoirs with respect tothe wire will be changed.

2. A marking head for a wire striping machine comprising an oblongreservoir enclosed except for an opening near the top, a rotatable wheelon a pivot mounting supported by the reservoir wall, the rim of saidwheel protruding through the opening into cooperative relation with thewire and closely adjacent the inner back surface of the reservoir wall,and a pivotally supported mounting supporting said reservoir, the axisof said pivot being transverse to the direction of movement of the wire,means to adjust said mounting about said pivot, whereby said reservoirmay be adjusted to vary the position of the wheel and reservoir withrespect to the wire.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, in which a plurality of saidreservoirs are pivotally supported on pivots transverse to the axis ofsaid wire, and a single movable means for adjusting in unison thepositions of all reservoirs with respect to the wire to vary theengagement of each of said wheels and the wire.

4. A marking head for a wire striping machine comprising a reservoirhaving a smooth continuous inner wall, enclosed except for an openingnear the top, a rotatable wheel on a pivot mounting supported by thereservoir wall, the rim of said wheel protruding through the openinginto cooperative relation with the wire and closely adjacent the innerback surface of the reservoir wall, and a pivotally supported mountingsupporting said reservoir, the axis of said pivot being transverse tothe direction of move ment of the wire, means to adjust said mountingabout said pivot whereby said reservoir may be adjusted to vary theposition of the wheel and reservoir with respect to the wire.

JAMES L. ENTWISTLE.

ALDEN W. NELSON.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,960,228 Milmoe May 22, 19342,157,874 Webb May 9, 1939 2,344,610 Hargreaves Mar. 21, 1944 2,537,884Forsberg Jan. 9, 1951

